Tension hangs in the air. The statue stands immobile as the adventurers warily stand guard. Calto tries to question the rock, but the statue is silent. Azoth urges the party to destroy the statue, but the adventures hold off.
Urgent words are exchanged with Azoth, who appears under duress as he manipulates the scepter. He does not give it to Calto as the druid requested, claiming a connection to it which must be overcome. Leomar the thief positions himself behind the cleric of Noden.
During the talking, Blade Rain and Grindhelm first notice the slow statue kneel down and start scraping on the floor. They look at the message (see PM.)
Just then there is the sound of great chittering and swooshing. From the south hallway a swarm of bats swoop in! The dark cloud of black wings envelope the room, plunging the adventurers into confusion and semi-darkness.
Actions for Round Nine!
- Party gets initiative given the statue is Slowed.
- Coleridge, the scepter is metal.
- Siavel's Slow duration left: 4 rounds.
- Siavel's Panguine Loyal Porter duration left: 26 rounds.
- Siavel's Thrasdrubal's Terrific Translator duration left: 18 rounds. (for talking with Tabai.)
After noticing the message, Grindhelm went to speak before the bats overcame the group. He started waving his hand at the bats to get them away as he yelled, "Do not attack the stone beast! It is one of our magic comrades! Something is off with this Azoth"
Grakluse Longleaf-A Candle in the Darkness
Jacxor Ironforge-Dungeon of the Mad Mage (5e)
Kreed Oaken-Chaos halls
Xlore Strongoak-B11 King's Festival & B12 Queen's Harvest - AD&D 2e
Tabai the native calms himself and stands there watching the statue with a keen eye ready to begin attacking it should it make an attempt to fight again. He ignores the bats with a calm resolve.
“All men did have darkness. Some wore it in the form of horns. Some bore it invisibly as rot in their souls.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred "If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything."
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling
Calto stares into the eyes of his old friend and sees a dark reflection staring back, believing he sees a shadow falling across Azoth's soul. The druid nods, his face calm and unaffected as the cleric begins to cast a spell.
With a sudden movement, the druid delivers a right cross to the cleric's jaw with his right hand, while he attempts to knock the scepter from the cleric's hand with his left.
"My friends! The bats are the distraction. The scepter has possesed Azoth. Help me break the connection!"
It's been a while, so I don't remember how unarmed combat works. I'm just going to give you a roll to hit.
Calto is correct!Sievel shouts out into the confusion and the bats!
We must constrain Azoth! He is possessed by darker magics than even HE can control.
If Sievel can maneuver through the bats, he dives at the clerics lower legs, hoping to trip him up so the others can get the scepter away from him. Dex check (16 or less) [3d6] = 8not sure if that's the correct roll either but, what the heck, maybe it worked?
If the mages magical porter can get through the bats, it will dive for the scepter and try to grab it out of Azoths hands.
Last edited by GreyWolfVT on Sun Jul 26, 2015 4:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
“All men did have darkness. Some wore it in the form of horns. Some bore it invisibly as rot in their souls.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred "If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything."
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling
Alex stands confused for a moment as the statue kneels down and begins to scratch on the ground; he kneels down to look at the scratching and sees that it's a message spelling out that the statue is in fact his companion Azoth!
Before he can do much; a swarm of bats bursts into the room and everything goes crazy. He crouches down by Azoth-the-statue and asks; "What should we do?"; in the hopes that the cleric knows the best course of action to take in this situation as the Fighter feels very out-of-his-element….
The living blackness flaps in battering and biting. The adventurers flail the bats, unable to take much other action. Each person is bitten by several of the bats (2 HP damage each.) Torches fall to the floor. Through the gloom and distraction of wings, it can be seen that the bats avoid the chanting Azoth. He laughs maniacally and points the scepter - black flames fan out in a 120-degree arc, burning Calto and Siavel! (Save vs. Spell.)
Grindhelm the dwarf reads what the statue has scraped onto the floor and yells warning not to attack it. Tabai the jungle native, putting more trust in the words of the flesh-and-blood Azoth, thrusts his great spear at the rock creature, but the bats upset his aim. Kitchi the ranger swipes his tomahawk at the bats. Gnome Bruno struggles against the bats. Leomar the thief is poised behind Azoth, subsumed by bats.
Siavel and Calto give warning against Azoth, together trying to apprehend the dark cleric of Noden. The druid attempts to punch Azoth, but the bats prevent Calto from getting any momentum. Siavel grapples the cleric, gaining a hold on him that is quickly broken. Siavel also orders his invisible Porter to grab the scepter; the unseen servant may be making the effort, but no result can be seen.
Blade Rain kneels down and asks the statue what course to take. The slow statue scrapes out a response (see PM.)
Actions for Round 10!
- Initiative: Party [1d6] = 1 vs. Monsters [1d6] = 5 Azoth wins.
- Party gets initiative vs. statue given the statue is Slowed.
- The bat swarm are similar in effect to an Summon Insect spell, but with more damage. A Save vs. Breath gives half-movement/action, which may be made each round.
- Bat damage [1d6] = 2 2 HP damage to each
- Tabai Save vs. Breath to take action despite bats [1d20] = 8 No. Since you missed anyway, I left the post description as is.
- Kitchi Save vs. Breath to take action despite bats [1d20] = 6 No. Same deal as Tabai.
- Coleridge, per my PM, the scepter is metal.
- Calto's tackle of Azoth: The 3 would be a miss in normal attacks. By unarmed combat per DMG, it becomes a percentile-based pummel hit. Translating the d20 to d100, a 3 would be a 15% (need < 28%) and thus a hit. However, the swarm of bats requires a Save vs. Breath to move/take action: Calto Save. vs. Breath [1d20] = 12 No.
- Siavel Save vs. Breath to move/take action despite bats [1d20] = 14 Yes.
- Per the DMG unarmed combat rules on p. 72: Siavel grapple [1d100] = 15, grapple effect [1d100] = 21 +21% modifier totals 42%, hand/finger lock, 2 HP damage, (hold may be countered).
- Azoth counter to Siavel's hold: [1d100] = 74 Yes, breaks hold.
- For future attacks, please roll Save vs. Breath to get through bats, then your normal attack rolls.
- Dogma didn't post for Leomar this round, but he is in position.
- Siavel's Slow duration left: 3 rounds.
- Siavel's Panguine Loyal Porter duration left: 25 rounds.
- Siavel's Thrasdrubal's Terrific Translator duration left: 17 rounds. (for talking with Tabai.)
FYI, Calto is +2 to save against fire and lightning, so if that doesn't stack with the magic bonus, he rolled a 20 (God, if that's not good enough, I'm scared).
With all the bats flying around is it possible to still cast a spell? I'm guessing not.
The saves were for half-damage on flames. A 20 always saves
You can't currently cast amidst the bats in the room. With a successful Save vs. Breath you can do half-movement or an attack (at -2, which I neglected to mention in my last spoiler.)
Alex nods to the statue-that-was-hopefully-Azoth; and doing his best to ignore the flock of bats; he dove at 'possessed' Azoth's legs; attempting to tackle the priest to the ground, where he could then hopefully wrest the scepter away from the mad priest....
OOC: Not sure what to roll here; so here's a couple of d20 rolls; 1 for the Saving Throw: 1d20 = 16; and 1 for the "attack" to tackle Azoth: 1d20 = 19
Sievel knows that he can't take much more damage. He tries to get to the doorway and out of the swarm of bats. He commands his porter to lead the way for him, staying near his head to keep the bats away as best it can.
If he can get out of the danger of the biting bats, he will turn and open his magical sack in the direction of the possessed cleric.
Tabai looking puzzled is not sure what to do attack the statue er Azoth the statue or the possessed Azoth? the native decides to drop his current weapon and try to wrestle the possessed Azoth. Let me know if i need to change the type of roll for this. Grapple [1d100] = 58
Last edited by GreyWolfVT on Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
“All men did have darkness. Some wore it in the form of horns. Some bore it invisibly as rot in their souls.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred "If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything."
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling
To confirm, the "take scepter" roll of 19 is the one you want to apply to wresting the scepter?
Per the mention in my last spoiler, I'm using the unarmed and grappling rules in DMG. They're very crunchy but it's a nice change of pace. To hit is percentile, lower the better, so a 19 on a d20 translates to 95%. So you're welcome to roll again.
Guys, if you don't have the 1e DMG (p. 71 I think), its basically a 1d100 to hit, lower the better, and another 1d100 for effect based on charts. There are a bunch of modifiers for each.
